Anna Frost, 2012 Speedgoat 50k Champion, Interview Transcript

iRunFar: Bryon Powell of iRunFar here with Anna Frost after the finish of the 2012 Speedgoat 50k which you just won, Anna. Congratulations!

Anna Frost: Thank you!

iRF: Going into the race, you were very much in doubt of your fitness. How did you actually feel out there today?

Frost: Yeah. I felt really good which was nice. The thing was, I had nothing to compare or to judge how my fitness was. I’ve been walking up 14ers and power hiking up them for the last 7 weeks or out walking. So I had no idea of my fitness or how that strength would handle on a course like this. I felt really good on the hills. The energy in my legs was finally back, because I’ve had some of the weeks in the last couple of weeks where it just felt like they were not my legs. Then, it was just on the… the steep downs and the steep ups were fine, but then the ankle pain that I’ve been dealing with came back on the sort of flatter running on the hard-packed roads. So I was in quite a bit of pain coming back down again.

iRF: There’s a whole lot of hard-packed descent.

Frost: Yeah.

iRF: When did you know you were feeling alright?

Frost: Right from the start, really, I felt good. Bethany [Lewis] was really super strong at the start. We had a good battle all the way to the top of the first hill. She was right on my tail. It was great because there’s nothing like that competition. And that’s why I do it because I like to compete with people.

iRF: And there’s a little extra competition because there’s $1000 dollars on the line.

Frost: Yeah. Yeah, which was a really nice bonus, yeah! So at the top of there she just sort of disappeared, and I think maybe she got some blisters on her feet. Then there was a big, long downhill that just went on forever and then a flat piece and my legs were like, “What are you doing? You don’t run on flat! You don’t run! You just power walk.” So that was pretty difficult across there. Then I didn’t see her again. You’re sort of half way there, and then you start the three big climbs from there. So I was quite glad to get to that point because I could just power hike up the hill, then just sort of suffer through the downhills, and then hike back up again. It was sort of a frustrating day because I was feeling really good, so I wanted to run. But there were some bits that I just couldn’t because it was too sore. It was a fantastic day. I felt good, and it was just nice being out there with a really incredible field today. Yeah, it was beautiful course up on the top. All the flowers were just in full force; it was amazing. We had perfect weather as well.

iRF: Totally. Does this have you really excited for what else you have in store this year?

Frost: Again, I’ve got to wait and see what happens with the pain in my legs. So hopefully I can do Transrockies; hopefully I can do the Pikes Ascent. Both of them have a grade that I can’t run on at the moment. So unless that comes right, I’ll just be doing the Hope Pass day and just trying to get it right. I’ll probably do some paddle boarding and more walking up big 14ers. It’s not such a bad summer either way.

iRF: No, you’ll certainly have your fun here, Anna. Congratulations on your win and great to see you again.

Frost: Thank you.

Bonus Footage: The Haircut?

iRF: Anna, can you tell us a little about the haircut?

Frost: The haircut? Well, you know what tapers are like—they’re very boring. So, we’d been sort of talking about fun hairdos for the last couple of weeks. So Tony [Krupicka] and Rickey [Gates] and his mom just thought, “Well we should just do it.” So we went to Walgreens and got some shavers and just zipped it off in the carpark, right there, and just did that.

iRF: So tonight do you think we can convince either of these guys [Tony and Joe Grant] to do the same?